Study: Yoga practice, health and lifestyle
Here we are, talking about deconstructing yoga again — this time about how individual components of yoga change health and lifestyle in the long term. Today I'd like to share a new study (February 2019) on the association between yoga practice and health.
The study is based on an online survey designed at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Respondents answered questions about their yoga routines: which style of yoga they practice; how often they do it; how they divide their time between physical practice, breathing, meditation; if they follow the yoga philosophy. Next, participants reported their general health and completed assessments on their quality of life. Finally, they answered questions about lifestyle, including their dietary choices, use of alcohol and so on.
More than 1700 people took part in the survey. Most of the participants were yoga teachers or experienced practitioners. Most were women and ages ranged from 19 to 89 (wow! -claps hands-).
The researchers then calculated how yoga practice predicted health and lifestyle. The results speak for themselves. Most participants (96.1%) had good to excellent overall health; 87.7% reported improved health since starting yoga.
lifestyle SCIENCE
Being a yoga teacher or practicing yoga postures weekly improves quality of life, including physical, psychological, and social aspects.
Being a yoga teacher or practicing yoga postures weekly improved quality of life, including physical, psychological, and social aspects. Those people who practiced meditation weekly had better psychological health, and those who practiced yoga philosophy had better social wellbeing and were more likely to eat vegetarian.
The study also found some peculiar features of different yoga styles: Iyengar practitioners reported the highest psychological wellbeing and Ashtanga practitioners were the most likely to be vegetarians. (Check out the full text to learn more features associated with particular styles!) However, it is also possible that different styles of yoga attract people with different personalities.
These results are impressive and should be used as a case for promoting yoga and its integration into healthcare. However, it is easy to see that the range of participants is very narrow: highly educated (73% with a university diploma!), generally healthy, working women.
reflect now!
How can we make yoga practice (and research on yoga) more inclusive?
Thank you for reading!
Please share your thoughts and comments below.
Irina
HI, I AM IRINA
I am a yoga teacher and a scientist. In this blog I write about the most recent scientific research about yoga/meditation/mindfulness. Please leave comments and share your thoughts!
Feel free to read Irina's previous blogs are here.
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Thank you for sharing, Irina. It’s impressive indeed how the yoga lifestyle affects physical, social and mental wellbeing! For the inclusivity of yoga, I think it’s important to teach yoga in a broad range of settings, not just in studios but also outdoors, in community centres etc. An idea I have been playing with the past months is to organize ‘karma classes’, in which people of middle/higher socioeconomic background pay a little more so that people with less financial resources can join for a lower price. We can help each other in the yoga community!
Lana, thank you for your comment! Very interesting to hear about your project, it is a beautiful idea. Are you classes based in a school/studio? Another possibility I guess would be to offer yoga programs via hospitals and healthcare organizations that reach out to people with different backgrounds.